How blockchain tracing exposed $105M Incognito dark web market

The dark web drug market used crypto for payments, but blockchain transaction tracing helped the FBI identify its creator, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The creator of Incognito Market, the online black market that used cryptocurrency as its primary payment rail, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after blockchain transaction analysis cited by US authorities linked him to the platform.

The Justice Department said on Wednesday that a Manhattan court gave Rui-Siang Lin three decades behind bars for owning and operating Incognito, which sold $105 million worth of illicit narcotics between its launch in October 2020 and its closure in March 2024.

Lin, who pleaded guilty to his role in December 2024, was sentenced for conspiring to distribute narcotics, money laundering, and conspiring to sell misbranded medication.

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